Out of the Blue
by Vibeke E
Summary: After escaping from the battle that put an end to the First Order Hux and Ren join forces to have better chances to disappear. They end up in the Outer Rim, a bounty on their heads, jumping planets without knowing what tomorrow may bring. Until Hux returns to their ship with a baby. Ren is puzzled. Hux doesn't understand the fuss: it's not like they're going to keep it or anything.
1. Out of the Blue

Ahn D'Ar was a stinky little moon of planet Khrys inhabited by all sorts of species and all sorts of criminals. Rocky and barren, it was mostly used as an open-air office for smuggles and assassins looking for clients, and anyone venturing into its crowded, dusty streets needed to be aware of at least one thing: anything and anyone on Ahn D'Ar could potentially kill you.

Hux cursed under his breath, shouldering his way across the narrow Canyon Market. The hundreds of feet of brownish rock above him and the thousands of creatures bristling around made him claustrophobic – a very ironical feeling for a war criminal with a rich bounty upon his head.

He adjusted the hood of his cape, dreading his hair might attract unwanted attention. This had been a terrible idea; he should have stayed at the ship and sent Ren looking for food instead.

They'd been on the run for almost a month, now, and their supplies were running out more quickly than they'd both predicted. The Outer Rim offered infinite possibilities for people who wanted to disappear, but even here keeping a low profile was hard for two humans with luxurious uniforms and a TIE Silencer as a transportation. They needed something more anonymous and less showy, but they still hadn't stepped on a planet civilised enough to offer adequate replacements. Maybe this was the right one.

Hux made a face as he surpassed a seller displaying all sorts of Stormtrooper equipment, most of which had positively been plundered from whatever had been left of the First Order armoury. Somewhere out there, somebody was probably offering the Supremacy's remains as war memorabilia. Or perhaps the Resistance had claimed it for themselves, as a trophy of their victory and memento for future generations.

Hux huffed.

He'd been wandering in that madness for at least two hours when he found an old Hutt selling second hand clothes. He had some trouble with communication, but in the end he successfully managed to trade his trousers and jacket for a few rags for himself and Ren. He had hoped to get some local currency out of the deal, but the Hutt wasn't exactly amicable, so he'd settled for the horrid clothes and left without a single wupiupi in his pocket. If he wanted to go back with at least basic provisions, he was going to have to get creative.

Stupid primitive coins.

It took him another half an hour to find vaguely edible food. A human woman grinned at him with blackened teeth as he approached her stall. She didn't speak any language Hux knew, yet she was surprisingly quick in understanding his perplexity about her goods.

"Yum, yum!" she kept repeating, picking up small berry-like purple fruits from a wrecked basket and popping them into her mouth one after the other. "Yum, yum!"

Hux waited for her to taste a little bit of everything and asked for whatever looked closer to food he actually knew. He offered his scarf as a payment and didn't even have to bargain: although quite unrefined, the woman was no fool and was more than happy to get a garment made of pure Dramassian silk. It was a terrible trade: he could have bought the whole stall in exchange for that scarf – and probably the woman, as well – but he had an urgency to get rid of as many compromising items as possible and, anyway, his backpack was already full to the brim.

He was about to turn on his heels and head back to Ren and the ship when he noticed a butcher stall on the other side of the street.

Meat. He could definitely use some meat.

" 'ooman, huh?" said the butcher. It had a set of four milky eyes randomly scattered over a rough, round fish face. "No many 'ooman 'ere."

Hux ignored him and retreated further into his hood. He couldn't recognise most of the varieties, nor he had expected to: fried Endorian chicken was something he could forget about for good. Still, he was lucky enough to spot some jerked Bantha meat and Gorss steak. That could do.

"I'll– "

His attention fell on a bundle nestled inside a basket between a pile of greenish flesh strips and what looked like hearts of some gigantic species. There was nothing special about it, except that is was moving.

Hux tired to take a closer peek, mildly interested; Butter Newts were usually sold alive and they were cheap and nourishing. A few of those could easily–

Hux's heart skipped a beat.

The thing in the bundle was not Butter Newts, nor anything he had expected to see.

It was a child. A baby. A human-looking baby with dashing black eyes and barely a wisp of electric blue hair. Its skin was pearl white.

"Good for cookin', yes!"

Hux, whose eyes were still transfixed on the tiny creature, blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"Sell other. Custamer bake, say it kriffin' delishiss."

The language of the butcher was crass and approximative, barely intelligible. "Other? There was a second baby?"

The butcher rose all three of its oily fingers. "Thrrree. More small die soon after parent sell." It pointed its middle finger to the baby. "No bery wupiupi 'ere. Smol. Bery bery smol."

Hux was about to be sick. This was a baby. A perfectly healthy, humanoid baby being sold on a filthy stall in one of the worst places Hux had ever had the questionable pleasure to visit. He took a better look at it, picking up more details: faint specks of silver glittered among the darkness of the irises; bluish freckles – or something very similar – dotted the little nose and scattered a little on its sides; its nails were jet black and glossy. All these features together could only mean one thing.

Hux straightened up and took a deep breath. He's just made a very rushed decision which he was likely going to regret it, at some point.

"How much for it?"

The guy's four eyes blinked with their eerie circular lids and eagerly set on the shiny metal buckle of Hux's belt.

Hux stifled a frustrated sigh. He was quite fond of that, but he would have had to get rid of it anyway, eventually. Surviving was top priority.

"Okay," he said as he removed the belt. The tattered robe fell loose around his waist. "Deal."

He threw the best to the butcher, who greedily caught it and stared at it as if it was too good to be real, then clutched it to his chest and gestured Hux to take what he wanted and leave. " 'ooman. Meh."

Not without a mild shock for this extremely reckless move, Hux grasped the handles of the basket and carefully eased it off the stall.

As he disappeared into the crowd, he could hear a distant voice in his head yelling that this whole thing was going to turn against him somehow, sooner or later, but the hustle and bustle of the market made it quite easy to quench.

Nonetheless, one single, inescapable certainty was clear in his mind.

Ren is going to kill me.

* * *

Notes:

Okay, this wasn't really meant to happen, but here we are. I had this idea this morning at work and couldn't really rip it out of my head, so... I wrote. This is just an introducion, next (and last) chapter will be much longer.  
Hope you guys enjoyed. Reviews are very appreciated, so... yeah, thanks in advance to anyone who's going to leave one!  
I proof read this once, but i'm not sure it's enough. I'll be fixing any mistakes/typos asap. Forgive any distraction, it's half past midnight, here. (Also, English is not my native language.)


	2. It's a long way to Cantonica

_When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you  
without flinching – they are your family. ― Jim Butcher _

"What took you so long?"

Ren's tone was annoyed.

He was buried waist-deep into the belly of the escape pod of their ship, rustling with whatever had broken inside. He'd discarded most of his clothes on the ground all around him, his skin and wife-beater sweaty and dirty from the black grease and the dust carried by the wind.

Hux eyed Ren's broad shoulders with a displeased grimace. All that gratuitous display of rippling muscles was totally unnecessary, but then again, utterly unnecessary showing-off was Ren's questionable trademark.

"Dealing with these primitive creatures is more difficult than I expected." Hux dropped the bag with the food to the ground and tried to sneak a peek at what Ren was doing. "Did you manage to fix the pod?"

"Not completely. We're going to need a new– " Ren trailed off and froze. A moment later he emerged from the belly of the pod and stared at the basket Hux was still holding. "What's that?"

Hux felt slightly taken aback. _Of course_ Ren could sense the child.

"A baby," he replied matter-of-factly.

Ren's eyebrows furrowed. "Come again?"

"A _baby_ , Ren."

Ren stared. His scar stood out starkly against his pale face, whose only trace of colour was a faint flush over the cheeks. For reasons that completely escaped Hux's understanding, Ren looked oddly attractive like that – messy damp hair and everything – and Hux was a little offended by the disarming unintentionality of such a wonder. He was so used to considering Ren an irredeemable man-child with self-control issues that somehow it was a mild shock to suddenly _see_ him as a full-grown man.

"Hux." Ren looked at him like he thought he had lost his mind. "How did you come into possession of a _baby_?"

If Hux had been as puerile as Ren, he would have thrown the basket at him to enjoy the change in his stupidly blank expression once he discovered what was inside. Being a dignified man with a sense of propriety, however, forbid Hux to stoop to Ren's level. Instead, he opened the basket with both hands and offered Ren a view of its content.

Ren didn't drop his gaze from Hux's eyes for long, awkward seconds before finally glancing down. Hux's lip twitched in smug delight when he saw the surprise on his face.

"It was for sale at the market," he explained. He picked up the baby from its improvised crib and moved aside the folds of the shawl enveloping it. " _She_ ," he rectified. "She and her siblings. She's the only survivor. I couldn't..."

"I see."

Hux arched his brows.

"You seem to have a weakness for hopeless creatures discarded by their own families."

Hux scoffed. "I think she's half Damantine."

"I can see that myself."

Obviously.

Damantine looks were quite unmistakable, if one knew what they were looking at. That was the point, actually: most people nowadays ignored the existence of the Damantine. Once a prosperous, cultured people, they had been decimated and reduced to slavery because of a very specific peculiarity of their race, which happened to be highly valued across the galaxy: they were strongly connected with the Force. By the time the Jedi had managed to put an end to their miserable condition and set them free for good, there were so few of them left that they were commonly considered extinct.

"It's plausible, isn't it?" Hux searched for a sign of assessment from Ren. "Her features are definitely human, but her skin, her hair..."

"Yes," said Ren wistfully, scanning the squirming bundle in Hux's arms with a strange light in his eyes. "I can feel…" His forehead creased, eyes narrowing with concentration. "She's shielding herself."

Hux gaped. The child was a newborn – she couldn't be older than one or two months, really… how could she be so powerful to be able to project a shield?

"She's scared of us," Ren added. "Humans scare her. It was her human mother who sold her."

Hux was barely paying attention to him. All he had registered was that the infant was exactly what he had hoped she would turn out to be. If they found the right buyer…

"Do you have any idea of how much a Damantine is worth?" he breathed greedily. There were finally chances he could split ways with Ren and forget ever meeting him. "There's… what? A few hundreds of them left? Even if she's not pure-blooded, we could make an awful lot of money out of her."

"She's definitely strong with the Force," Ren confirmed absently. His attention was completely absorbed by the child. Hux had never seen that expression on his face. He looked… fascinated.

Hux cleared his throat impatiently. "I know a guy in Canto Bight. He could put us in contact with the right people."

"Cantonica is too far from here."

Hux felt a vein twitch in his temple. Ren hadn't even blinked. He was still staring at the little thing in Hux's arms as if he were trying to see through it. Irritated, Hux put the baby back into the basket and adjusted the folds of the shawl to cover her, then glared pointedly at Ren: "Is that an inconvenience to your tremendously busy agenda?"

 **x**

Ren was nervous.

Reaching Cantonica was going to take a lot of stops and a lot of long pauses, since they couldn't afford enough fuel to get straight there, and their best (and only) option was to find someone who would take their all too noticeable Silencer in exchange for something more practical and more low-profile. It was annoying, because that included sticking around with Ren much longer than originally planned, but Hux was willing to endure some extra annoyance if the outcome was as rewarding as he expected, even if that meant humiliating himself posing as a beggar in the smallest village he had ever seen. On Naboo, of all places.

From where they were, Hux could see Theed, human capital of the planet, perched on top of its highland, blissfully crawling with wealth and commodities. And showers. Hux would kill for a shower and some soap right now.

"We need to give her a name."

Hux stopped in the middle of the street. What nonsense was that?

" _What?_ "

It took him a second to remember they were supposed to be basically invisible so he shut his mouth at once, concentrating his perplexity in one single glower in the direction of Ren's back. He was sure the bastard would sense it, anyway.

Ren turned around: "A name, Hux," he repeated, as if talking to a child. "Her personality is already forming. She needs a name to create her identity. Without it, her development will be compromised. She'll whither like a severed flower."

With a vague sense of unease, Hux looked down. He had the baby girl strapped across his chest with an improvised wrap made with Ren's dirty wife-beater: she was peaceful, sound asleep. It was an odd presence over his breastbone, so light it was easy to forget of it was there, yet so pleasantly warm it was impossible to forget it.

They'd tried to leave her on the ship, but as soon as they'd walked away from her, the whole place had started rattling and the lights flickering, so they'd had no other choice than to bring her with them.

"Fine," he huffed impatiently, and spread one arm. "Pick a name then."

"You should choose it."

"Why would I?"

Ren stared. No one was paying attention to them: Juuna was a small village and its inhabitants were mostly farmers and shepherds. Two humbly dressed foreigners were no big deal among them.

"You found her. You brought her here. She's already formed a bond with you."

Hux rolled his eyes. "What the hells are you talking about?"

"The silver in her eyes," Ren explained with a nod towards the baby. "It intensifies when she looks at something she likes."

"Why would she _like_ me?" argued Hux. He was _offended_. Really, it was crazy to even consider the idea. "She _can't_ like me. I'm going to hand her over to the highest bidder as soon as I can… She _must_ know."

"She does," Ren replied unaffectedly. "She doesn't care. She was terrified among all those dead creatures at the market and you took her away." Then, after a brief pause he added: "She's grateful to you."

Hux scoffed. He didn't believe a single word, nor he believed Ren could actually feel what the baby was feeling. He lacked the physical and psychological strength to put up with this Force bullshit right now.

"Well, I couldn't care less about what she's named," he spat, and, as if to stress his point, he pulled the sling over his head and handed out the child to Ren. "She's just _trading material_. You pick a name. Whatever you like."

There was a very awkward moment of stillness during which Ren simply stood there and Hux remained frozen in that uncomfortable position, waiting for Ren to take the damn baby, which suddenly seemed much heavier. Hux had to personally place the infant into Ren's arms, and even then, he had a feeling it probably wasn't the smartest move: Ren was big and strong – maybe too big and too strong to be entrusted with such a tiny and fragile thing. He made to take the baby back, but Ren's arms had gently folded around her and he was now looking at her in the funniest way. It was a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty and… fascination, perhaps?

"Aurel," he said slowly, like caught in some sort of trance. The baby cooed sleepily at the sound. And then... It was just a split second, but Hux could have sworn – Ren almost _smiled_.

"Why," Hux wrinkled his nose and brushed past Ren along the street "She certainly seems to like it."

 **x**

Against all odds, Juuna turned out to be the right place for their business. It took only a couple of attempts to find someone who could point them to the right people. Cantinas were always a good source of that kind of information and Hux was not disappointed when he asked the bartender if there was someone in town who was interested in some top quality ship stolen from the First Order.

Ren had snorted at that – he wasn't exactly thrilled to abandon his personal ship, but they couldn't afford stupid sentimentalisms. He would get over it, sooner or later. Besides, Hux had give up his whole high uniform to finance their escape, and _that_ was something he had dearly treasured. All he'd kept were his boots, and he wasn't going to let go of them any soon.

"There's someone who can help you just at the edge of the village," the bartender was saying, pointing a thumb behind her shoulders. "It's the lil' cabin nestled into the mountain. They're smugglers. They'll fence anything you bring to them. You can tell 'em Guhr Xen sent you."

Much to Hux's chagrin, the man's utter lack of discretion didn't bother Ren whatsoever: he just thanked and left without further questions, adjusting the baby – _Aurel_ – against his shoulder. He couldn't carry her like Hux had because the sling wasn't large enough to fit around his stupidly sturdy torso, so, when she'd started whining a little, he'd settled her into the crook of his neck and just walked on like it was an ordinary habit. Surprisingly enough, the baby had calmed straight away.

It wasn't long before they found the cabin: as promised, it was isolated from the rest of the village, its structure merging into the rocky side of the mountain as if it had just grown out of there – among cascades of dark ivy, on a bed of sandy dirt with splotches of grass and flowers here and there.

When they knocked, a voice asked from inside: "Who's there?"

A Coruscanti accent. Not exactly common in this part of the galaxy.

Hux stepped closer to the door: "Guhr Xen said you can help us?"

Something clicked and the door opened, revealing a dark-haired woman with icy blue eyes and sharp features.

"Hello," she greeted with a half smile that made Hux's skin crawl. She was rather attractive, but something in the way she smiled – her teeth, perhaps – made her look kind of predatory. She studied both Hux and Ren for a moment. She seemed suspicious until she noticed the baby. "Come on in."

"What is it?" asked another voice from somewhere inside the house.

The woman closed the door and turned to answer: "We have _guests_. Prepare some tea"

Hux genuinely hoped that wasn't a coded phrase for something else, because he really didn't want any trouble _and_ he really could use a nice cup of tea after all this time.

Inside, the cabin was much more luxurious than it was on the outside: the floor was polished stone, the furniture beautifully carved in the local white wood. A lot of the objects on display on the many shelves running along the walls looked antique and quite valuable.

The woman led them into a spacious living room and gestured to sit on a wooden bench by the wide window facing the woods. A moment later, another woman appeared, carrying a tray that fulfilled Hux's hopes: _tea_ , finally. She was very tall and curvy, strikingly beautiful, with long copper hair flowing down her back. She was at least ten years younger than the other one, who must have been in her forties.

"So," the dark-haired woman sat down on a chair across the small coffee table while the other handed out the steamy cups she had just filled. She smirked at Ren. "What's your name, hot stuff?"

Hux decided to ignore that the woman had just implicitly stated that _Ren_ was the hot one and focused on a much more serious issue: their identities. They hadn't prepared a cover story. He was quite certain these ladies didn't give a damn about who the two strangers in their home were and what they had done, but leaving behind any sort of trace was too dangerous, even if it was just a print in someone's memory.  
Unsurprisingly, Ren proved himself to be a very prompt liar: "I'm Adar." He nodded sideways towards Hux. "My husband, Nall."

Hux chocked on his drink. He coughed furiously, spluttering hot tea all over himself. Next to him, Ren (with an admirable aplomb, Hux begrudgingly admitted) started rubbing soothing circles on his back.

"Are you alright, dear?"

Hux's ears flared. He gave Ren a killer glare: "Yes. _Thanks_."

The ghost of a smirk curled a corner of Ren's mouth. The bastard was enjoying himself.

"My name is Karelia," said the dark-haired woman, apparently satisfied with Ren's answer, then grinned up at the redhead. "My wife, Daleel."

"Pleasure to meet you both." Daleel beamed at them. She was _really_ gorgeous. "What's the little one's name?"

Hux was incredibly relieved Ren had insisted so much to name her. "Aurel."

"Aw." Daleel watched the baby yawn on Ren's lap with longing in her eyes. "Can I hold her?"

"I don't think– " Hux began, but Ren had already stood to pass Auren to the woman, who welcomed her in her arms with a smile so bright it seemed to lit up the whole room.

"Look at her, Rel." She turned to her side to let her wife get a better view. "Oh, I miss having babies around."

"Don't you even think about it, love," Karelia warned playfully. She watched her wife hum a lullaby to the mesmerised child, sheer adoration painted all over her face. "That kid is hungry," she stated after a while.

Hux arched his brows. How could she tell? They'd had Aurel for less than five ours and she hadn't cried _once_.

"How–?"

"The blue in her hair is fading. That's Damantine for crazy wailing. How long hasn't she eaten?"

Hux barely registered that the woman could recognise Damantine looks. He shared a nervous look with Ren. They were supposed to know, weren't they?

"Stars," Karelia shook her head in disbelief. "Worst parents ever."

"This is not– we're not–" Hux was _stuttering_. He wasn't really sure what he should say: support the parents theory and automatically make himself and Ren actual worst dads ever, or plainly stress they were not, in fact, the baby's parents and jeopardise their cover.

Karelia put down her cup and pointed a finger at Hux: "Look, Ginger: the little one is with you. As far as I'm concerned, you and Brooding Hunk are her parents, right now."

"What he means," Ren cut in, silently begging Hux to shut the kriff up. "Is that we just took her in. This is... new to us."

Daleel offered them an indulgent smile. Her wife, however, threw her head back and groaned as judgingly as humanly possible.

"Do you even _know_ what Damantine babies eat?"

 **x**

Blood, apparently.

Kriffing Damantine infants ate _blood_.

"Good quality blood contains all sorts of nutrients," Daleel was explaining, shuffling up and down the little kitchen in the back of the house. She had retrieved some sort of small bird from the backyard and, just like that, had snapped its neck without even blinking. Now the poor creature was being plucked clean all over its tenderest spot. "I'm sure Aurel would be happy with milk, too, being half human. We can see what she likes best."

Hux had been seated on a stool by the wooden round table, the baby comfortably ensconced in the crook of his arm. He was still nervous about this whole situation, especially because Karelia looked like the sort of woman that could kill you in your sleep and make it look like an accident. He trusted Daleel, though: she seemed really good-natured and sincerely glad to have he and Ren as guests. It would probably be a bad idea to stress they had urgent business to carry out. Also, they actually needed to learn how to look after Auren if they wanted her to make it to Canto Bight alive.

This inescapable truth, however, didn't make the feeding process any less disgusting. Naively, Hux had reckoned the blood would be drawn before the baby could have it; he hadn't expected the _whole bird_ to be fed to her and still less had he expected four minuscule white canines to spring from Auren's rosy gums and dig into the animal's neck with such gusto.

Even Ren seemed bothered by the sight – which was a relief, since Hux himself was very close to retching. He'd seen a lot of gore in his military career, but a baby girl suckling blood out of a dead bird? That was news.

For a while the four adults in the room watched in silence as the baby ate. The two men appeared to be the only ones to be grossed out by the crudity of such a show.

"My father was a slaver," said Karelia at some point. She was perched on top of the table beside Hux and Auren. Ren was standing right behind, but Hux felt his pose shift. "He had a couple of hundreds Damantine slaves in Bellante."

 _Coruscant_ , thought Hux triumphantly. _I knew it!_

"Your father must have been very rich."

"He was." Karelia's eyes were hard and cold. "He was also an arrogant bastard."

Hux was very curious as to why a Coruscanti heiress had ended up living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. It would be impolite to ask straight away, of course. "How did you two meet?"

The two women cast each other a look.

"Daleel was a maid in my father's palace," said Karelia. "Both our husbands were abusive jerks, so we slit their throats and ran off together."

Hux gulped. So much for women preferring poison for their murders.

"I think she'd done," Ren intervened, crouching down to remove the drained bird from Auren's tiny fangs; all four of them disappeared as soon as there was nothing left to bite. Ren tried to wipe her mouth with his fingers, but it wasn't very effective.

"Here." Daleel gave him a clean cloth. "Use this."

Hux wasn't really comfortable with Ren bent so close over him, even if he was doing something as harmless as cleaning a baby's face. There was something wrong with that closeness – with Ren's gentleness. Ren was a weapon. He was powerful and unpredictable and couldn't be trusted to care for infant, yet here he was, doing of the most human things imaginable – _being unimaginably human._

These musings were abruptly interrupted by a couple of children bursting through the door screaming. Very loudly.

Ren straightened up in front of Hux, blocking his view of the newcomers. He didn't move until the children stopped in front of Karelia's scolding glare.

"What did I say about running indoors?"

The children's face fell.

"No running indoors," the older said with a shrug. It was a girl, slim and sharp as Karelia, with the same blue eyes and sassy attitude. She must have been around twelve.

The boy, chubby-faced and ginger-haired, pouted.

"Guys," said Daleel, gesturing towards her guests. "Would you please behave and say hello to our new friends, Adar and Nall?"

The kids finally acknowledged there were strangers in their kitchen. "Hi," they mumbled together.

Karelia introduced them: "Our daughter Kahli and our son Benjen."

Hux didn't really know what to do. He had never been around children, nor he remembered much about being a child himself. Both he and Ren opted to simply smile. A little falteringly.

The situation was rapidly slipping out of hand. They had come for business. Why were they sharing platitudes and making friends? They did need friends. They needed a ship. _Urgently._

"Your baby is very pretty," said Kahli.

"Huh." Hux wondered what he was supposed to reply. It wasn't like he or Ren could take any credit for Aurel's apperance. "This is not– "

"Thank you," Ren cut in with a polite nod towards the girl. "You're very pretty, too."

Though Ren had expressed himself with his usual colourless tone, the girl giggled delightedly. "I like him, mama."

Again, why was Ren the popular one around here?

After the children ran back outside, Daleel fetched a large cushion where they put Auren to sleep. Hux returned to the table feeling free and oddly empty.

A bottle of wine of some sort had been taken out, along with a set of tall crystal glasses. Despite the humble facade, these people _were_ wealthy.

"So," Karelia began, uncorking the bottle to fill up each of the glasses. "Let's get down to business."

* * *

Notes:

So, my inspiration is kind of taking control and this story is getting longer every time I post a new chapter. I started this as a one-shot and look where we're going. Oh, well.  
I haven't written a multichapter fanfic in a very long time, so this is a surprise for me as well, but, hey, these two dorks are adorable and I just enjoy writing about them so damn much.  
Once again I'm posting in the middle of the night and there may have been some faults in my proof-reading... bear with me.  
Please, if you enjoyed this, a comment, even a short one, would make my day. Thank you in adavance to everyone who's going to take a a few seconds of their lives to leave a review.


	3. The Gualaar in the Room

If Ren was annoying as a general human being, he was simply insufferable as a parent – or whatever it was he and Hux were posing as.

"She's not comfortable like that," he was telling Hux while removing his boots.

Hux had barely had the time to crawl out of the cold water and put on his pants that he'd found himself holding Aurel while Ren disrobed right in front of him.

On their way back to the ship, Hux had spotted a stream and hadn't been able to resist the urge to stop for at least a quick bath. This was the first clear water they'd seen in weeks, and even Ren had agreed to stop by. Being filthy and smelly wasn't something either of them was used to.

"And what position would be most agreeable to her majesty?" Hux retorted, trying to adjust the baby's head against his chest. He wasn't really cut out for this.

Stripped to his undergarments, Ren approached and manoeuvered Hux's arms into the right position. He was basically naked, and Hux was troubled by how little it seemed to disturb Ren to be standing so close to another man with nothing but undershorts on. Certainly, it troubled Hux enough for the both of them.

Ren was massive. His chest was twice as large as Hux's (and possibly more) and rippling with taut muscles, just like his arms, and waist and... everything, really.

As a wave of heat rose from his belly, Hux pried himself away from Ren's touch and obtrusive presence. "Take your damn bath and let's go back to the ship. It's almost sunset. I don't want to be out after dark."

Ren stared. Despite the discomfort, Hux somehow noticed for the first time that Ren's eyes were, in fact, not hazel as he had so far believed, but green, with a halo of brown around the pupils.

How quaint, he thought, the discomfort slowly turning into a weird flutter behind his navel.

He tried not to watch Ren walk into the water. He sat down under a tree, instead, and just listened to the splashing sounds of Ren's body diving in the stream. Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught just a glimpse of contracted shoulderblades disappearing under the surface of the water.

"What a peacock," Hux muttered, then closed his eyes and let his head rest back against the trunk of the tree. Aurel burbled and he took it as a sign or agreement.

He craked an eye open. "I know, right? Obnoxious."

Aurel burbled again. Hux gently tapped a finger on her nose: "You're a smart kid, huh? You truly like me better than him?"

Silver shards surfaced into Aruel's dark irises and glittered in the pale late afternoon light.

"Oh." Hux's finger froze halfway down her soft cheek. "Well, that is unexpected."

"Who are you talking to?"

Hux's head snapped up: Ren had climbed out of the water and was walking towards him, casually combing a hand through his wet hair. The scar on his face was longer than Hux had imagined: it stretched down his neck and collarbone in a white, uneaven trail, a thin red core between its rough edges.

"Nobody."

Ren's gaze lowered to Aurel for a moment, then returned to Hux's face. "She's hungry again."

"Is she?" Hux couldn't see any difference in her hair. "We need to find some milk. Or something to feed to her."

Ren, dripping water all around himself, pursed his lips. "How do you intend to pay for any of those?"

"You can use your Force tricks," Hux retorted, waving a hand in Ren's direction. "Can you Force-convince a bird to fly straight into your hands?"

"Stop talking about the Force like it's a game."

"Do you have a better idea?"

 **x**

Ren's silencer was way too small for two people, let alone two people (one of which was Ren's size) and a baby. Especially because, surprisingly enough, the baby was the one taking up most of the available room.

Daleel had given them a couple of proper baby clothes and some nappies – which neither Hux nor Ren had learned how to correctly place. Hux didn't even want to think about what they were going to do when it would be time to wash those things.

"What time is it?" he groaned from the floor. Ren, slouched in the pilot seat in the cockpit, was snoring soundly.

Hux let his head fall back to the wall and huffed. So much for cooperation.

"I'm going to kill him in his sleep," he said to Aurel, whose tiny fangs were happily dipped into his right wrist. It was a funny feeling. Hux had thought it would hurt, but after the first moment it just sort of tickled.

Babies needed a lot of meals, according to Karelia and Daleel, so Hux and Ren had been taking turns with nurisng Aurel every two hours. All night long. What had seemed like a viable option in the first place – cheap and easy – was now starting to get slightly impractical: neither Hux nor Ren had anticipated how much blood Aurel would be able to drain from them.

It was Hux's third round, now, and he was starting to feel a little dizzy. How could such a small creature be so hungry all the time?

A minute later, Aurel finally – finally – let go of him and retracted her canines.

Hux sighed in relief. "It was about time, little lady." He checked the two purple dots marking the tender flesh of his inner wrist: the twin holes were already fading; Aurel's saliva probably contained something with healing-accelerating properties. Which was a blessing, because Hux couldn't afford any futher blood loss. He felt weak and light-headed, but Aurel, at least, looked happy and satisfied.

Hux carefully wiped the red smudges from her pale lips and resettled her to prop her against his bent knees. She was impossibly small, soft and feather-like under his hands. He studied her intently: she was a delicate little thing – pretty, as far as he could judge – and her eyes, with those ever-changing silver specks, were mesmerising. Had anyone ever thought such a thing about him? Had anyone ever looked at baby Armitage and thought he was anything good?

Brendol Hux had never shown any love to him. Armitage had been his son and had taken his name just bacause they shared the same blood. Simple as that. Shallow as that. Despite how desperately he had wanted it, Hux had never felt like a son to Brendol. He had never been held the way he was now holding little Aurel. Nobody had ever talked to him in a low, sweet voice to sing him a lullaby.

With a pang in his heart, Hux suddenly realised that children could be orphans even with a name and a family.

No, he thought after a second, casting a brief look at Ren's slumbering figure. Not just children.

That much he knew about Ren: a foresaken child. A rejected child. Worthless to his family as much as Hux had been to his own.

Five tiny fingers closed around Hux's thumb and a wave of warmth washed over him out of nowhere. He almost smiled at her. "Welcome to the pity party, missy," he whispered, and the warmth around him intensified.

"What time is it?" asked a sleepy voice.

Hux looked up, feeling inexplicably guilty. Ren was rubbing his face between his hands, the first light of dawn rising from the mountains behind him.

"I asked you the same question moments ago, but you were too busy snoring to consider me."

Giving no sign of having heard anything Hux had just said, Ren stood from his seat and walked to him with a shadow concern on his face. He looked very tired, with blue shades under his eyes and a greyish undertone to his white complexion.

"Give her here," he said, holding his arms out. "You look terrible, you need some sleep."

Hux arched a brow. "Look who's talking! You look worse than Snoke after you killed him."

Ren's arms retreated slowly. He towered over Hux, a hundred questions flashing through his eyes. It seemed to take forever to him to finally say: "You know."

Hux made a face. He hadn't meant to blurt that out like that – he hadn't meant to blurt it out at all. But that didn't really matter, now. Not anymore. "Of course I know! Why did you think I was about to kill you back in that bloody throne room?"

"I guessed it was just because you hated me."

"Yes, well," Hux reached out to accept the hand Ren was offering and let him pull him up. "That was one of the other reasons."

Ren took Aurel without taking his eyes from Hux's. He clearly hadn't expected Hux to be so transparent about his intentions that night. The fragile balance they had miracolously managed to maintain so far was now threatening to tip.

"Don't look at me like that," said Hux tiredly. "I'm not going to kill you. Snoke is dead, the First Oder is dead, and so are my aspirations. You and I depend on each other to survive, now. Let's make this work."

"You mean until we have enough money to part ways and disappear forever."

Hux frowned, straightening his back. "Of course. That's what I mean."

Ren nodded. He was absently stroking Aurel's head with a thumb; his hand was large enough he could nestle Aurel's whole body into it.

Hux refused to look him in the eye. He felt... bewildered. This was not the man he knew. There was a tenderness in that gesture – a humanity Hux had never seen before. Not in Kylo Ren.

"If you're alright with her," he said, turning away. "I'll try to rest before Karelia comes to check the ship."

Understandably, Karelia had demanded to see the silencer before starting to look for buyers. She had also demanded, also understandably, half of the profits for herself and Daleel – a condition both Hux and Ren had accepted immediately, since the job was risky and they wouldn't be able to fulfil it without the two women's help.

When Hux finally slumped down into the pilot seat, he felt like he had aged ten year overnight. His bones and joints pulsed with a dull ache, his whole body sore from too many nights spent sleeping on the ground. Even Ren's seat was uncomfortable, but still better than the cold, hard floor.

Hux gradually drifted into sleep, rocked by his own exaustion and by the distant echo of a lullaby hummed in the break of daylight.

 **x**

Karelia showed up midmorning, riding a gualaar that looked just as dangerous as she did. Hux instinctively stepped back when he saw her dismount with a confident jump. He could swear the massive beast was glaring at him.

"Don't be afraid of Rowdy," said Karelia with a wink. "He's a good boy. A little lethal, if you piss him off, but a softie inside. Right, darling?"

The gaulaar huffed loudly and rubbed his giant muzzle against his mistress' shoulder. Karelia returned the affection with a couple of pats on the side of the animal's neck. "See? Mama's good boy."

"Keep that thing away from us," Hux warned, stepping behind Ren with Aruel clutched to his chest. If that beast decided to eat their most valuable possession, it would be the end of all their hopes.

Karelia gave him an infuriatingly knowing look and muttered something to the gualaar, who stood perfectly still as she approached the ship. It was official: Hux now had a new least favurite person.

"This beauty is very well kept," Karelia said, after circling Ren's silencer for the second time. "If you had more time, I could– "

"We don't have more time," Ren cut in. He was jittery: he wasn't keen on the idea of giving up his ship, but he had no other choice. He and Hux would soon be found it they continued using such a noticeable transportation. Plus, they desperately needed money.

"Fence this rubbish as soon as you can, as best as you can," Hux added. "We only deal in cash. If I have to spill one more blood drop to feed Aurel, I swear I'll pass out."

Karelia stopped in the middle of her examination of the silencer's bodywork to blink at Hux: "You gave her your own blood?"

Hux blinked back and turned to Ren, then back at Karelia: "Isn't that what we were supposed to do?"

The woman shrugged. "Feeding your own blood to your baby is the exact Damantine equivalent to human breastfeeding. I didn't peg either of you as the breastfeeding type."

Hux knew his ears were going red. He knew that, and he hated himself for that, because he didn't want to give that insufferable woman the satisfaction of seeing him blush like a pansy.

Hux wanted to reply with some snarky comment he would positively regret, but a soothing touch in his mind made him refrain himself.

Hux. It was Ren's voice. It was flowing in his head like fresh water, washing away his anger and frustration. Calm down. We need her help.

Then, outside Hux's head, Ren's voice added: "She's just saying that it's what establishes the bond between the baby and the parent, and we probably didn't look ready for that." He met Karelia's eyes and she let out a snicker.

"That's an understatement, buddy." Karelia approached Hux and Ren with a scary glint in her eyes. "You're going to have to learn to actually care for that kid if you really want to pass as loving dads."

Hux faltered. Was Karelia insinuating they were a fraud? They made a perfect family picture. How dare she?

Ren glared at her with an outraged frown: "It's new to us. You're right: we have no idea what we're doing. She's only been with us for a few days." He turned to Aurel, and Hux thought the affection in his look was impressively convincing, so much Hux almost believed him.

"We'll learn," he said breahlessly. He searched Ren's face and received a nod of reassurance.

"We will," Ren agreed. He was stiff, his whole body as tense as a bowstring. If Karelia suspected they were hiding something from here, they were in trouble. Big, big trouble.

In confirmation of Hux's fears, Karelia put her hands on her hips and shook her head disappointedly. "Look, guys: I'm playing along with your little lovebirds charade, here, but I'm not a fool. You two are not in love. If there's any mutual feeling between the two of you, that's barely tolerance."

Hux was ready to kill her, if he must. He considered her bare throat, tender and easy to slash with a simple knife as the one he had hidden in his boot. His fingers flexed, preparing to reach down, but something stopped him. It wasn't Ren's touch, this time; it was the memory of Daleel's kind smile, and Kahli and Bejen's laughter filling the house.

Hux shifted Aurel against his chest and cursed himself. What's wrong with me?

But Karelia wasn't done: "Don't worry," she helpdup a finger before either of them could argue. "It's none of my business if you and he are lovers or murderes or whatever, and I frankly don't give a damn. Just take this piece of advice from a friend: if you want to pretend to be a happy married couple, you're going to have to put a little more effort into it."

So maybe she wasn't entirely wrong. Hux and Ren weren't exactly warm to one another, but that didn't mean anything. Not all couples were cheesy romantic clichés. Hux opened his mouth to deny, to display all the indignation he was capable of, but Ren put a hand on his arm and said, instead: "We appreciate the feedback."

Hux was flabbergasted: Ren had just blown their cover, just like that. To a perfect stranger.

Aurel whined against Hux's shoulder and he bounced her with gentle pats her back.

Karelia watched the scene with yet another irritating little grin. "Awful boyfriends," she commented. "Not so bad as parents, though."

"Oh, shut up!" Hux snapped, turning Aurel away from the woman's patronising look. "You know we're not her parents."

Karelia addressed him one of her terrifying shark-like smiles: "I said you're not lovers," she clarified with the tone of an adult trying to reason with a toddler. "That doesn't automatically rule you out as parents."

"Please! You know we're lying and your father was a slaver. You must know what we were planning to do with her."

The shark-smile widened. "I do indeed."

Hux hated her. Her mere presence made him want to throw himself off a cliff. Ren, however, seemed to like her. Like her, as in enjoy her. He averted the conversation to the ship and allowed Hux to get away with Aurel while they discussed business.

Aurel was very intrigued by Karelia's beast – what was his name? – and the animal seemed to intercept her interest, because he looked up and, to Hux's horror, abandoned his spot to trot towards them like he had been called.

"Did you do this?" Hux asked Aurel, half stunned, half admired. "Did you just– " The gaulaar's wet snout nudged Hux's hand over Aurel's back. The baby uttered something surprisingly similar to a giggle. Hux felt that absurd warmth all around himself again.

When Karelia finally left, with a promise she would find a good buyer very soon, Hux watched her and her ride disappear among the trees with such relief he deflated like a baloon.

"Why did she look so smug?" he asked Ren, following back into the silencer.

Ren stopped halfway along the ramp. He turned to Hux and gave him a long, sullen look.

"You said she must know what we were going to do with Aurel."

Hux huffed impatiently. "So?"

Ren's eyes were dark and glossy behind a curtain of black locks. Hux felt like he was being searched within.

"Were. Past tense."

Oh.

Oh.

* * *

Notes:

I swear, I have no idea how this story is getting so long. I started out as a one-shot idea, something clearly went wrong. I'm not satisfied with this chapter, but I couldn't linger on it any longer or I would never update. Take it as it is, and sorry for the usual typos. Reviews are welcome. Seriously, literally they fuel inspiration.


End file.
